"The Death-Bed Marriage" of Greeley's
Liberal-Republicanism to "The Daughter of Democracy" took place at
Baltimore on July 10, 1872, and was duly celebrated in this grim caricature.
Long-time Republican Horace Greeley kneels to take, for better or worse, the
moribund hand of the Democratic party which has nominated him as its
presidential candidate. The sarcastic use of the N-word in the subtitle refers
to a 1868 Nast cartoon, "Would You Marry Your Daughter to a Nigger?," which wondered if the anti-black Democratic party might nominate
civil rights veteran, Salmon Chase. (They did not.) Here, the term refers to
Greeley, the former abolitionist, and underscores the abandonment of his
principles.